Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

I Love You, Honeybear is the second studio album by American folk musician Josh Tillman under the pseudonym Father John Misty, originally released in February 2015 via Sub Pop Records.

According to Tillman, the release is a concept album about himself. Here is an extract from his website describing the album:

“I Love You, Honeybear is a concept album about a guy named Josh Tillman who spends quite a bit of time banging his head against walls, cultivating weak ties with strangers and generally avoiding intimacy at all costs. This all serves to fuel a version of himself that his self-loathing narcissism can deal with. We see him engaging in all manner of regrettable behavior.

“In a parking lot somewhere he meets Emma, who inspires in him a vision of a life wherein being truly seen is not synonymous with shame, but possibly true liberation and sublime, unfettered creativity. These ambitions are initially thwarted as jealousy, self-destruction and other charming human character traits emerge.  Josh Tillman confesses as much all throughout.

“The album progresses, sometimes chronologically, sometimes not, between two polarities: the first of which is the belief that the best love can be is finding someone who is miserable in the same way you are and the end point being that love isn’t for anyone who isn’t interested in finding a companion to undertake total transformation with. I won’t give away the ending, but sex, violence, profanity and excavations of the male psyche abound." 

I Love You, Honeybear was recorded in 2013 and 2014 in Los Angeles. The album was produced by Tillman and Jonathan Wilson and was mixed by Phil Ek and mastered at Sterling Sound.

On its release I Love You, Honeybear received widespread critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 87, based on 34 reviews, which is categorized as "universal acclaim".

I Love You, Honeybear debuted at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 with 28,000 copies sold in its first week. Its debut represented Tillman's best album sales week to date. As of July 2015, the album has sold 74,000 copies domestically. Approximately 30% of the album's units sold have been, both in its debut and cumulatively, in the vinyl configuration.

This album is a 2025 limited edition reissue on red pearlescent coloured vinyl housed in a gatefold sleeve with a printed inner sleeve and remastered audio, pressed in the US via Sub Pop.